2021/03/31

Neatorama

Mother Bear Takes Four Cubs Across Street
A Dream Home for the Modern Goth
The Obscene Fruit That Medieval Europeans Loved
Magic Brooms Hot Dogs

Mother Bear Takes Four Cubs Across Street

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 09:07 PM PDT

Keeping up with one young child is hard enough, imagine trying to keep track of four all the same age! This mother bear had her hands full trying to cross a street with four cubs in Winsted, Connecticut, on Monday. You carry one, another follows, one stays back, and one doesn't know what to do. At one point, she even tries to carry two cubs in her mouth at once, but that doesn't work. Lucky for the bears, traffic stopped completely to let the family pass through. -via Laughing Squid

A Dream Home for the Modern Goth

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 04:44 PM PDT

This lovely little house for sale in Baltimore is quite unique once you look past the front. It comes with some nice perks, like a detached garage, party bar, and a backyard fire pit.

The house is lighting up the internet as a statement on home decor. Every room is monochromatic, black furnishings against clean, white walls.

The current owner is easily pegged as a single male Goth football fan with a clear devotion to an aesthetic that is hard to define, although the term "American Goth" comes to mind. An interview with the real estate agent dubs it "sexy funeral goth."

Slate: When you have a house with decor as unusual as this, do you try to get the sellers to neutralize it a little? Or do you just embrace it?

Matt Godbey: Well, you should have seen it before. He somewhat neutralized it. I told him: I've been doing this for 33 years, and I know what sells. Some of the things in there, I told him, will frighten people. There were about 25 mannequins in the basement and some upstairs.

Take a tour through 82 pictures at the real estate listing. -via Metafilter

The Obscene Fruit That Medieval Europeans Loved

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 11:30 AM PDT

The Mespilus germanica was known as the "open-arse" due to its shape, resembling an anus opening to extrude its contents. Although extremely rare today, this fruit was loved in Medieval Europe, in part because it bloomed during the winter. Thus it was one of the few sources of sugar available to eat during the winter. But Europeans didn't eat it right away. The medlar, as the fruit is called today, becomes edible only after it has rotted for a few weeks. BBC describes this lost, beloved foodway:

When they're first picked, medlars are greenish brown and resemble oddly-shaped onions or alien-looking persimmons. If they're eaten straight away, they can make you violently ill – one 18th Century doctor and botanist said that they cause diarrhoea. But if you put them in a crate of sawdust or straw and forget about them for several weeks, they gradually darken and their hard, astringent flesh softens to the consistency of a baked apple.

The exact chemical mechanism involved remains elusive, but broadly, enzymes in the fruit break down complex carbohydrates into simple sugars such as fructose and glucose, and it becomes richer in malic acid – the main culprit behind the sour taste of other fruits such as apples. Meanwhile, harsh tannins, which contribute to the bitter astringency of younger red wines, and antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), are depleted.

-via Kottke | Photo: Solange Cabe

Magic Brooms Hot Dogs

Posted: 30 Mar 2021 11:30 AM PDT